Is the Video Game Museum going to use graded games?

[Bojay1997]

Love the pic Port! Honestly though, I wasn't trolling...

Very short quick example of where I don't think it would be wise to not display a piece JUST because it was graded:

My sealed Flintstones 2 that I just sold is the only one with photographs to confirm that it exists (though there is word of another out there). Would a serious museum curator rather:

A) Display what is likely a one of a kind piece in their museum
B) Not include it purely because it is in an acrylic case

I'm not in any way saying that it would be BETTER to have graded games displayed in the museum, but rather it would seem silly to not include them just because they were slabbed. Just my 2 cents.

Bojay: Not that I ever assumed that sealed games would be at the forefront of the museum, but you'd certainly think they'd have a place in a video game museum, no?

Actually, for archival purposes, sealed games should not be kept in any museum. While I personally collect sealed games, I am also painfully aware that over time, the acidic wrap on many games begins to react with the paper, cardboard, adhesives on labels and ink which also have acids in them. That's why comics, books and paper money are not sealed in regular commercial grade plastic, but rather stored in acid free materials like mylar, etc... If not very carefully climate controlled, all shrinkwrap gets tighter and more brittle or even sticky over time. That's why you'll find other museums including the collection at Stanford removing the wrap on their sealed items. Sealed games just won't last long term, so while you might not have a problem with a game that is 20-30 years old, in 20 years from now when that game is 50 years old and has been exposed to airborne pollutants, heat and cold, UV and other lighting, etc...it will start to degrade.

Grading and sealing are fine for a very small number of collectors with a fairly short term outlook, but for most collectors and for museums, it is a complete waste of money and prevents long-term preservation.

[TonyTheTiger]

Actually, for archival purposes, sealed games should not be kept in any museum. While I personally collect sealed games, I am also painfully aware that over time, the acidic wrap on many games begins to react with the paper, cardboard, adhesives on labels and ink which also have acids in them. That's why comics, books and paper money are not sealed in regular commercial grade plastic, but rather stored in acid free materials like mylar, etc... If not very carefully climate controlled, all shrinkwrap gets tighter and more brittle or even sticky over time. That's why you'll find other museums including the collection at Stanford removing the wrap on their sealed items. Sealed games just won't last long term, so while you might not have a problem with a game that is 20-30 years old, in 20 years from now when that game is 50 years old and has been exposed to airborne pollutants, heat and cold, UV and other lighting, etc...it will start to degrade.

Grading and sealing are fine for a very small number of collectors with a fairly short term outlook, but for most collectors and for museums, it is a complete waste of money and prevents long-term preservation.

Interesting assessment. The youth of our hobby sometimes blinds us to these things. It's common knowledge what happens to comics, newspapers, etc. over long periods of time because they're decades upon decades old and we've seen the results often enough. But even the oldest video games are still new by comparison so we haven't seen many examples of what age does to the rudimentary retail packaging.

[Gameguy]

That's why comics, books and paper money are not sealed in regular commercial grade plastic, but rather stored in acid free materials like mylar, etc... If not very carefully climate controlled, all shrinkwrap gets tighter and more brittle or even sticky over time. That's why you'll find other museums including the collection at Stanford removing the wrap on their sealed items. Sealed games just won't last long term, so while you might not have a problem with a game that is 20-30 years old, in 20 years from now when that game is 50 years old and has been exposed to airborne pollutants, heat and cold, UV and other lighting, etc...it will start to degrade.

For really rare or valuable documents the paper can be treated to remove the acid, but it's extremely expensive to do so only really valuable items are usually treated. Most other books and documents will be left to rot, but they will still be scanned so the information and look of the pages won't be lost. I watched some documentary on the history of books which talked a bit about preservation and this is what one archive was doing.

Plus when rare documents are sealed in a case, that case is usually filled with Argon gas to help preserve it. The Declaration of Independence is now stored like that, and the exhibit also blocks out UV light to prevent other damage. I doubt the graded cases for games are filled with Argon, eventually the games will still deteriorate and the grading will be useless anyway. Unless the video game museum will seal everything in Argon filled cases, which I doubt will happen.

I doubt all this game stuff will last over 100 years from now, the closest thing to preservation will be collecting ROMs of every game to prevent them from becoming lost. The physical material just won't hold up, just scan pictures of everything and back those up for future displays 100+ years from now.

[Ze_ro]

Please do NOT do this... including VGA graded games in a museum would only bring them legitimacy that they really don't deserve.

--Zero

[digitalpress]

Have you been watching my auctions over the past 3 months? I've been gladly selling off all of the sealed games in my collection and at the store. I'm opening a museum and I don't want sealed games. What I want are pristine quality cases, manuals and discs.

Remember that part of the charter of this museum is interactivity. There is nothing less interactive than a sealed videogame trapped in a block of plastic.

[Buyatari]

I would think that most games in a museum should be mint complete BUT if someone donated a sealed game or a VGA sealed game I could see the right one fitting in just fine.

For example if someone were to donate a sealed or VGA graded sealed Stadium Events I think some people here would enjoy seeing it just like it is even though you can not play it.

[jonebone]

As a sealed game collector, I also agree that they don't serve much of a purpose in a museum. They should be opened and playable for interactive purposes, Mint isn't even a requirement.

The museum should showcase more unique items, like prototypes, displays, retail ads, promo items, etc. Stuff that is actually unique and interesting to the history of games, not just being sealed.

The only thing that I would like about sealed games are price stickers. There's nothing better than a $1,000 game with a $19.99 KB Toys sticker on it. Just a reminder that this hobby was born from nothing but bargain bin sales and a bit of collector passion.

[portnoyd]

buyatari.

You're my boy and all.

But you're a total dick for bumping this. ;P